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Translation - art & business » Professional development »
The German State Examination for Translators and Interpreters
Thread poster: Albert Fischer (Dipl. Jur., LL.B., BDÜ)
Albert Fischer (Dipl. Jur., LL.B., BDÜ)
Albert Fischer (Dipl. Jur., LL.B., BDÜ)  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 22:26
English to German
+ ...
Apr 27, 2010

Hello,

I am planning to sit these exams (field: law) in June this year. I am a native German and I studied law, not linguistics.

Can anyone tell me how to prepare for this exam? I work as a full-time translator ("lawyer-linguist" if you want to put it in a more pretentious fashion) and therefore I am even more scared that something might go wrong.

The respctive public authority said, without prejudice, that on average, the failure rate is about 20%.
<... See more
Hello,

I am planning to sit these exams (field: law) in June this year. I am a native German and I studied law, not linguistics.

Can anyone tell me how to prepare for this exam? I work as a full-time translator ("lawyer-linguist" if you want to put it in a more pretentious fashion) and therefore I am even more scared that something might go wrong.

The respctive public authority said, without prejudice, that on average, the failure rate is about 20%.

Is there something I should take special care of or something that I should especially look out for when sitting/preparing the exam?

I hold German and UK law degrees and I have a fair bit of experience by now - shouldn't that suffice? I of course downloaded past papers but I didn't find them very instructive.

Any help and advice will be utmost appreciated.



Cheers, Albert. ▲ Collapse
 
Helena Diaz del Real
Helena Diaz del Real  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 22:26
German to Spanish
+ ...
In memoriam
You must proof to have experience as a translator Apr 28, 2010

Hi Albert,

If I understood you well, you want to make the state exam in Germany to become a "state-proofed"-translator, right?

Well, check the page of the state in which you want to make the exam. And you will see, in all of them you need to proof to have been a certain number of years as a full-time translator.

Beside this, I can tell you that the fall quote is much higher than 20%. In some webpages I read about 70% and I indeed think this is closer to rea... See more
Hi Albert,

If I understood you well, you want to make the state exam in Germany to become a "state-proofed"-translator, right?

Well, check the page of the state in which you want to make the exam. And you will see, in all of them you need to proof to have been a certain number of years as a full-time translator.

Beside this, I can tell you that the fall quote is much higher than 20%. In some webpages I read about 70% and I indeed think this is closer to reality. Keep in mind that people (including you, of course) will always have to pass an exam consisting in both direct AND indirect translation and this is not easy. But well I also think it's all a matter of working hard for it. If you are german native and have an english university degree, I think it should be good enough.

At any case, I keep my fingers crossed for you.

Alles Gute und viel Glück,
Helena ▲ Collapse
 
Michaela Müller
Michaela Müller
Germany
Local time: 22:26
English to German
+ ...
German forum Apr 28, 2010

Hi Albert,

I think it will be best to ask this question in German in the German forum since there will most certainly be more (German) people who actually did sit this exam AND who will read your question.

Good luck,
Michaela
 
Albert Fischer (Dipl. Jur., LL.B., BDÜ)
Albert Fischer (Dipl. Jur., LL.B., BDÜ)  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 22:26
English to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thanks for posting but.. Apr 28, 2010

what is direct or indirect translation? This is exactly the type of thing I am scared of. I am good at what I am doing and really do not want to fail because of some special gimmicks. I think legal translations are quite different from other translations.

By the way: good call Re German forum.

Thank you!
 


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